Diffusion of Physicians and Access to Primary Care: The Role of Person, Program, and Place (2014-15)

  Author: Thomas C. Ricketts, PhD, MPH Background: Federal and state policies try to influence physician location choices using a combination of programmatic or extrinsic factors (e.g. bonus payments, subsidized loans) and personal or intrinsic factors (e.g. promoting volunteerism, orienting trainees to underserved populations and selecting motivated students) to encourage physicians to practice in communities where the… Read more »

Understanding How the Diffusion of Physicians Creates Areas of Underservice (2014-15)

Investigators: Thomas Ricketts, PhD; Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP; Andy Knapton, MSc Background: States and the federal government devote substantial resources to influence physicians to practice in underserved areas.  Like the general population, the physician workforce is mobile.  About 20% of the active employed physician workforce will relocate to another county within a five-year period. Federal… Read more »

Comparison of Specialty Distribution of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in North Carolina, 1997-2013 (2013-14)

Authors:Perri Morgan, PhD, PA-C; Anna Johnson, PhD, MSPH; Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP Background:As healthcare demand in the United States is expected to grow, increased use of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) is seen as a partial solution to potential physician shortages. NPs and PAs can change specialties throughout their careers and may constitute… Read more »

Assessing Shifts in Outpatient Visits to Physicians of Other Specialties in Rural Areas with Shortages of Cardiologists and Gastroenterologists: A Preliminary Analysis (2013-14)

PI: Donald Pathman, co-PI: Mark Holmes Project purpose: This project seeks to quantify how the local availability of physicians of various sub-specialties affects the scope and mix of services provided by family physicians and general internists. Project results: A policy brief examining the “plasticity” of the scope of services provided by primary care physicians to… Read more »

Workforce Transformations Needed to Staff Value-Based Models of Care (2013-14)

Authors: Erin Fraher, PhD, MPP, Rachel Machta, BS, Jacqueline Halladay, MD, MPH Abstract: Secretary Burwell recently announced that by 2018, 50% of Medicare payments will be tied to value through alternative payment and care delivery models. What will this shift to value-based payment models mean for the workforce? This paper synthesizes the existing body of evidence… Read more »

An Open Source Model for Projecting Physician Shortages in the United States

The question of whether the United States is facing a physician shortage is a hotly contested topic. Some projections have estimated a shortfall of between 85,000-200,000 physicians by 2020 but other analysts have suggested that supply is not the issue, rather it is the distribution of physicians both geographically and between specialties that is most… Read more »

Assessing the Workforce Needs of Patient Centered Medical Homes in North Carolina

This group of leaders will draw on the nationally recognized health workforce data, the analytic capabilities of the North Carolina Health Professions Data System (HPDS) and the expertise of health workforce researchers and policy experts from the University of North Carolina’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research to assess the workforce needs of patient centered medical homes

A Study of Associate Degree Nursing Program Success

Evidence from the 2002 Cohort The Current Policy Context Key Findings of Factors Affecting: Graduation Rates NCLEX Pass Rates Retention in NC Workforce Policy Implications and Conclusions Recommendations